NWOA AUGLAIZE VALLEY REGION
Leadership Empowerment Day -- Sunday, February 27, 2005 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
AUGLAIZE VALLEY REGION COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING
September 16, 2004 @ 3:00 p.m. -- Spencerville United Church of Christ
Cabinet Meeting Report: (Joyce): “God Is Still Speaking Initiative” displayed pilot ads on T.V. They were successful. Nationwide ads are starting in November. Churches must sign up to be listed and with their addition on the list, they should have members of their churches go to training sessions. Places for training are:
Oct. 2 (Sat.) 9-12 in Bluffton
Oct. 7 (Thurs) 6-9 in Upper Sandusky
Oct. 24 (Sunday) 5:30-8:30 in Bellevue
Oct. 23 (Sat) at Lakeshore Region meeting
The annual Association meeting is to be held at St. John’s UCC in Kenton on April 30th. The theme will be “God Is Still Speaking”.
Search Committee Meeting With Cabinet (Joyce): They held one meeting and had questions. Answers: The Association Minister, who is an ordained minister and holds standing in the UCC should be the first one sought. He will be voted on by the Association. The Association Minister should have some input into the choosing of the Minister of Community because he/she is the one who has to work with him/her. The Minister of Community will be accepted by the Cabinet.
Barry Bordenkercher’s job will continue until both of the ministers are comfortable in their positions as administrators.
The new Constitution is moving from a restrictive to a more flexible one and has to go to the Association in the April meeting. More of the work will be shared by cooperative teams.
They are seeking a representative from this region who is on the Cabinet to be a linking person to the Search Committee.
Faith Formation Ministry Team -- No report
Church & Ministry Team (Pat)
From Pastoral Relations Working Group
-Fall Professional Retreat at Templed Hills in Oct.
Theme: “Boundaries”; 4 sessions (only two needed to meet requirement
Periodic Support Consultation)
-Plan on using same theme for Jan.19th Periodic Support Consultation-format of the day will have to be changed.
-Designing a format for Situational Support Consultation so that such consultations follow the same procedure
-Discussion on procedures for exit interviews
-when does working group become involved
-develop a set of questions to be asked
-who is to be involved?
-Is a report to be given?
-Retired Minister Luncheon set for Dec.7, at Parkvue
From In-Care Working Group
-reviewing In-Care manual for NWOA
General Announcements from Association
-“Timely Topics” to meet at the Association office on the 2nd Thurs. of each month.
-an opportunity to dialogue with others
-Oct’s topic: “Looking At Church Through the Lens of Family Systems
Witness and Proclamation Ministry Team (Jane)
There is money ($400) available to all the churches in the Association for mission funding. Applications for this money are to be made for any worthwhile mission.
Leadership Empowerment Workshop Suggestions:
· Being Good Stewards of Endowment
· Becoming Accessible…More than an elevator.
· Justice and Peace Issues
· 5 for 5…what is it? (Review of the 5 different offerings)
· OCWM
· Grant writing
· Proclaiming the “Good News” through action
· National Youth Event..Highlights
· Confirmation Camp…OCWM dollars at work
· Wednesday Events/Intergeneration
· Forming small group ministry
· Spiritual Direction for Congregational Leadership
· Introduction of
Contemporary Worship
Regional Fall Gathering
Those attending the meeting were: Pat Minnich, Jane Hillman, Kenyon Kaehr, Ed Briggeman and Joyce Gilberg.
The Rev. Dr. Martha Due will be our guest speaker at this gathering.
Pat is taking care of the registration. Name tags have been ordered. Plans are to have groups of eight at each table. We are planning to have 140-150 attend.
Pat has free boxes from the Post Office to be filled with beads, toilet paper rolls, Play Doh, etc. The boxes will not have equal things within them. Hopefully, others at the gathering will offer to help those with little in their box or that group may ask others for help. Judy Gibson will be helping Pat.
Jane will make bible verses on different colored paper. For a mixer, those attending will be asked to find a connection to the verse written on the paper. An example: Adam is linked to Eve, etc. To make it easier, they will be instructed to look for a similar color or to look for a specific color. By the time it is ready to develop the program for community building, all those in attendance should be linked together as one big chain.
Jane will bring three doves to place at different areas in the links.
Jane is to have cards made to be placed on all the tables. These are to ask those in attendance for suggestions as to the subjects that they would like to see covered at the spring Laity Empowerment Day. Also possible areas of workshops would be given such as Evangelism, Outreach, Finance, Leadership, Children’s Issues, a workshop for Clergy.
Jane will call Bill Hulteen and ask him to be the speaker and conduct a clergy workshop for the Leadership Empowerment Day.
Ron needs another person to help with the workshop survey to send to the churches.
Jane will E-mail the list of suggestions for titles to the workshops that she has acquired to Ron.
Joyce is to send cards to the churches and Defiance College reminding them to bring the decorated fabric squares for the banner at this gathering. Also to be included on this card is the notification that each church is asked to bring a gallon of chili, chicken noodle or vegetable soup containing meat and a dessert. We would appreciate registration before the day because of ease in planning but those attending at the last minute are welcomed.
Joyce will ask St. Peter’s UCC in New Bremen to serve the supper at St. Paul UCC in Wapakoneta for the fall gathering.
Ken and Mitch Reed are making plans for a Youth Event (Junior and Senior High) in January. This is to be an all-nighter.
Ed is to contact those churches that were not in attendance at the last Laity Empowerment Day. They are St. Paul UCC in Alger, Cairo UCC, Columbus Grove UCC, Bethel Congregational Christian in Defiance, Lytton UCC in Delta, St. Jacob’s UCC in Payne, Westminster UCC in Harrod and Congregational UCC in Wauseon..
It was suggested that in the future, the planning of the fall gathering be given to a cluster of churches who can work together. Our coordinating committee would assist by finding a speaker and provide a leader.
AUGLAIZE VALLEY REGION COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING
August 12, 2004 @ 3:00 p.m. -- On the steps of West Elm United Church
of Christ in Lima, Ohio
Those present at the meeting were Char Burch, Ron Shifley, Mary Williams, Pat Minnich, Kenyon Kaehr, Ed Briggeman, Brian Oelhof and Joyce Gilberg. Jane Hillman and Ted Lovejoy could not make the meeting.
Cabinet Meeting Report (Joyce)
No report.
Faith Formation Ministry Team (Mary)
No report.
Stewardship and Caring Ministry Team
No report
Witness and Proclamation Ministry Team
No report
Church and Ministry Team Report
-Reminder of the Fall Professional Retreat at Templed Hills in Oct.
Theme: “Boundaries”; 4 sessions (only two needed to meet requirement for Periodic Support Consultation).
-Plan on using same theme for Jan. Periodic Support Consultation.
-Working group in process of developing a request form for situational support consultations.
-Informed that Covenant Ministry Services is inaugurating Pastor Leadership Seminar for area clergy. Sessions to be held 2nd Tues. of each month (Sept.-May,2005)
Another region is hosting three events (Oct. 10/17/24)
General announcements from the Association are: “Timely Topics” to meet at the Association office on the 2nd Wed. of each month. The Oct. topic is “Looking At Church Through the Lens of Family Systems. Also, Barry Bordenkircher’s call agreement with the Association has been renewed for a year.
Regional Fall Gathering
Ron reported that the Rev. Dr. Martha Due will be our inspirational speaker for the Fall Gathering to be held on Sunday, October 17, 2004 at St. Paul UCC in Wapakoneta at 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. The cost per person will be $5.00.
It was noted that the flier failed to mention that each church is to bring one dessert and also that only one vegetable soup is needed without meat. Ron will ask a church to make the vegetarian vegetable soup and will notify the churches about each bringing dessert and that the vegetable soup can have meat.
The letter about the 8 ½” squares of fabric failed to mention that there is to be a ¼” seam allowance around the entire square. Ron will E-mail this as a reminder to all the churches.
Joyce-Remind all the churches by card in September to bring their quilt square to the Fall Meeting.
Alex Gondala’s church will supply the organist and the bell choir. Their church has The New Century Hymnal. They have no multi-media equipment. Ron will check with Marilyn Deever concerning area available to project visual information.
Their church has a big event (lobster dinner) the night before. Can we supply the service ware? Mary volunteered to furnish the bowls, napkins, cups, spoons and forks.
St. Paul UCC ,Wapakoneta, will also furnish child care.
Pat will be supplying the UPS boxes in which to put miscellaneous articles for the groups to build the gifts of their church. She will make a list of items that she would like to see within these boxes and E-mail the list to each one on this committee. All are to bring them to our next Regional Meeting. Ron will send this list to all the churches within the southern region.
Ted, Ron, Kenyon and Alex will create the worship service.
Joyce is to ask St. Peter UCC in New Bremen if they would be willing to serve the meal.
Pat-Her church will take care of registration .
It was noted that eight churches were not represented at the last Leadership & Empowerment Day. Ed will make phone calls to these churches for the Fall Meeting.
Char is to bring the list of these churches to our next coordinating meeting.
Leadership and Empowerment Day -- February 27, 2005
Ron asked,” What events can we plan for the youth in our region? The goal is to build fellowship with worship and fun. After some discussion it was decided to follow a plan that Ron’s church uses for the youth of their community. Their program is called the Catacombs in which every Friday night during school session they offer to the 9th-12th graders a place where they can socialize in the basement of their church. They provide games, a place to dance and a snack bar. Ron feels that this area could accommodate the region’s teenagers that would participate. Agreement was reached that this would be a good event. Ron will contact Mitch and Eric to help make arrangements.
Last year a survey was made in the fall asking churches what topics they would like to cover in the workshops. There were 20 responses. We had fourteen workshops and West Elm UCC in Lima, where the meeting is to be held, has some extra rooms for more. It was noted that we should have workshops that would be interesting for the youth of our churches.
Some of the topics that could be covered for this session are:
Evangelism Is Not a Dirty Word
Materials Available for Adults
How to Deal With Prickly People-Part II
Expectations of Local Churches
Church Lay People Do Have a Voice
How Do You Build Relationships With Other People? How Do You Work Together?
Jane has a list of subjects to be added and again we would solicit suggestions from other churches. The list of possible workshops and inquiry as to other suggestions should go out in mid-September and asked to be returned by October 15th.
The next meeting will be on Thursday, September 16 @ 3:00 p.m. at the United Church of Christ in Spencerville
AUGLAIZE VALLEY REGIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING
June 23, 2004 @ 3:00 p.m.
West Elm United Church of Christ in Lima, Ohio
Those present at the meeting were Char Burch, Ron Shifley, Ted Lovejoy, Pat Minnich, Mary Williams, Ed Briggeman, Jane Hillman and Joyce Gilberg.
Ron opened the meeting with a prayer.
The following reports were made:
Faith Formation Ministry Team (Mary reporting)
Education-Lay School graduation was May 15th with Rex Fortney graduating. The fall semester class will be on Christian Education and will begin on Sept 7th. The spring semester class in 2005 will be a Polity Course.
A continuing Education series for licensed/ordained ministers and laity is being planned that will focus on a family systems model.
They are working at putting together a series of workshops on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Possible topics are: Goal Setting for the Local Congregation, Language in the Church, Same Sex Unions, Accessibility, and Open and Affirming.
Relational-Junior High Event is scheduled for October 10th at Grace UCC in Fostoria. This will be an association wide event. The theme will be “Moving with the Song of Life”, which flows from the Fall Youth Event of the Ohio Conference.
Spirituality-There will be a Church Professionals Retreat at Templed Hills on October 3rd & 4th. The focus will be on ethical and professional boundaries based on using the video series “Sacred Trust”.
Church and Ministry Team (Pat Minnich reporting)
They have decided to have three working groups: In-Care, Credentialing
and Consultation.
On Oct. 3rd and 4th, the annual Fall Professional Retreat at Templed Hills will be held with the theme “Boundaries”. There will be four sessions with video and discussion. For those attending, if two or more sessions are attended it will fulfill the requirement for Periodic Review.
On June 22nd, a meeting with In-Care students was held. There are currently 10 In-Care students in NWOA
Stewardship and Caring Ministry Team (Ted Lovejoy)
There was no report as they had not met.
Witness and Proclamation Ministry Team (Jane Hillman)
There was no report as they had not met.
Topics for future Empowerment Day from Defiance Cluster
Church Treasurers-Finance keeping
Divorce Recovery Groups (Community Need)
Options for digital music (good music without an organ)
Regional Fall Gathering
The Auglaize Valley Regional Fall Gathering will be held on October 17 at St. Paul UCC in Wapakoneta. The theme for this meeting is “Linked Together In Christ”.
Ted and Ron will obtain an inspirational speaker for this meeting. The cost should be no more than $500.
The schedule for this meeting is:
2:00 Doors are opened
2:30 Community Building
3:30 Break
3:45 to 4:45 Worship
5:00 Eat
Publicity-Ron. Information should be in Association Office by August 6th to make monthly mailing.
Each church will be asked to bring a gallon of soup and a dessert. The soups should be one of the following: chicken noodle, vegetable or chili. One of the soups should contain no meat. These soups will then be combined into larger containers for serving. Ted volunteered his church to bring the bread and butter.
The host church will be asked to provide child care, cookies and drinks for the snacks, drinks, set-up and serving for the supper, tables for registration and hospitality.
Registration-Name tags, collect money, register those attending-Pat There will be pre-registration. At this time, the amount of $2.00 was mentioned but this depends on who our speaker for the event will be.
There will be blended worship. Ron is to ask Kenyon Kaehr about some ideas.
Traveling Banner-Joyce The banner is to be 3 ½ feet by 5 ½ feet. There are 25 churches plus Defiance College. The center block is to represent the Auglaize Valley Region. Each church will be sent an 8 ½ inch square of material with instructions to decorate the square by embroidery, cross stitching, painting or in anyway they wish to best represent their church. These squares are then to be brought to the Fall Gathering will they will be pinned onto another banner (Jane will bring) for that meeting. After the meeting, the squares will then be quilted with a light blue background and will travel from one church to another to represent our unity. Ted will make a stand for the banner.
Char-Will send labels of the churches in the Auglaize Valley Region to Joyce.
Ron-Will put blurb into monthly mailing about the banners.
Community Building-We will gather and register in the community hall. Pat will collect building supplies and place them in a box and wrap them as a gift to be placed on each table. Each group of people at the tables will be asked the question, “What gifts does your church offer to the community and to the world?” With this question in mind, they are to build a church from the articles in the box. It was suggested that they present this creation to the altar during worship. If children present, this would be something that they could do.
Overall Welcome-Jane-Making of approximately 150 strips of paper, one of each to be given to individuals as they arrive. They are to find a person with the name that is written on their strip and link to them. By the end of this time period, all in the room should be linked together.
Ron-Will look for a ball and chain for a greeter to wear.
Chain Graphics-Pat and Jane will look for these.
It was mentioned to encourage children to come with their parents. After
registration, we will see how many children will be coming and make sure
that they are included in the programs. Next meeting
is August 12 @ 3:00 @ W. Elm UCC in Lima.
Auglaize
Valley Regional Coordinating Team Meeting
March 11, 2004 at West Elm UCC in Lima
Those present at the meeting were Pat Minnick, Gerry Mallott, Ted Lovejoy, Jane Hillman, Barry Bordenkircher, Mary Williams, Ron Shifley and Joyce Gilberg.
Pat opened the meeting with a prayer.
Leadership Empowerment Day:
This meeting was evaluated. The general view was that the meeting was a success. Most of those that had attended came away with a feeling that they had learned something and had been inspired to go back to their churches to put into action those ideas. There were 140 registrations with 20 churches represented. The churches that had representatives present were from: Holgate, Defiance College, St.John UCC in Defiance, Archbold, New Bavaria, Van Wert, Gomer, Emmanuel and St. John’s in Bluffton, West Elm and Evangelical and Reformed in Lima, Spencerville, Buckland, Wapakoneta. St. Marys, New Knoxville, St. Peter’s and St. Paul in New Bremen, Kettlersville and Rockford. Only eight churches were not represented.
We received $500 as an offering which was donated to “The Miracle on Cherry Street”. Ron will ask where the money for the registration goes. Also, would it be possible to donate $50 to the West Elm UCC for the use of their building because of their struggles to keep their church doors open?
Other comments and suggestions were: